[Erik Daniel wrote]
> I agree with most of your comments on power plane capacitance, but I have
to
> disagree with one point -- dielectric loss does NOT decrease with
decreased
> thickness of the dielectric -- dielectric loss is independent of the
> dielectric thickness in particular, and all geometrical concerns in
general
> (unlike skin-effect loss).

Someone once explained dielectric loss to me as absorption of the energy
in the E/M field by quantum resonances in the molecules that make up the
dielectric material. In my mind, I thought this sounded analogous to the
photoelectric effect, where you shine light of a particular frequency on
an atom and it gets absorbed if the frequency corresponds to one of its
quantum states. Is this truly the physical origin of dielectric loss?
If so, that would explain why it's strictly a material property and not
geometry-dependent...

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